faithnoel1989

I have an albino yellow tail shark in my 10 gal. he is swimming vertical and my water keeps getting vary smelly and murky. I have changed the water twice but it still wont stay clean. i disinfected everything in the tank before i put the new water in it i also changed out the filter. there is way too much ammonia in the tank. I'm also worried about my other fish I don't want them to die.

Lucy

Hi faithnoel1989 welcome to Fish Lore

There's such a thing as over cleaning your tank. Beneficial bacteria which processes the toxic ammonia grows in on your filter media, gravel and other surfaces.

Growing that bacteria is called the nitrogen cycle.
Here's a link explaining it.

http://www.fishlore.com/NitrogenCycle.htm

Do you have a test kit? The API master kit is highly recommended.
It would be helpful to know what the reading are for ammonia, nitrites and nitrates.

I would do daily 50% water changes to keep the ammonia down until your cycle is complete. Just rinse your filter media in used tank water to preserve the bacteria that's developing there.
I would also use prime to condition the water. It detoxifies the ammonia for 24 hours until your next water change.

Good luck.

Edit: I did a search for a yellow tail shark and didn't find any information.

Fishies-for-me

The smell is caused because the tank is over stocked and not cycled...it will get very murky and smelly..unfortunatly both of your tanks are over stocked imo Can you take some of the filter media from the 40 gallon and put it into the 10 gallon? I think the yellow tail shark is acually a albino red tail.

COBettaCouple

Welcome to Fishlore.

What you'll want to do is cycle the tank. You need a water conditioner called "Prime". 1-2 drops per gallon treats the water and helps protect the fish from the ammonia, nitrites and nitrates. Do daily 50% water changes, treating the water with Prime, and test the water BEFORE each water change. The API master freshwater kit is the one to use. This process will take some time, but is the best way to cycle the tank with fish in it. http://www.fishlore.com/NitrogenCycle.htm

You'll also want to check on the tank-size needs of your fish. They'll need bigger tanks as soon as it's possible to provide those for them.

pepetj

Faithnoel1989: I don't intend to be rude or critical, so please don't take it that way but both of your tanks are way overstocked if your aquarium info is correct. Don't panic, you might pull this one out:

a) One Oscar -no one else- needs as minimum a 55gal tank, you are keeping one with others -some non compatible- tankmates in a 40gal tank.

b) Your 10gal tank is also way overstocked and likely not cycled at all (4 days?) as Lucy and Fishies-fo-me stated. You could add some filter media (sponge) from your established 40gal tank and place it in your 10gal filter. In the meantime, go with daily 50% partial water changes with water treated with Seachem's Prime, as already suggested by Lucy and COBettaCouple

and, look at the bright side:
c) you need more tanks for those fishes! Welcome to MTS. If you can't consider giving some away or return them to the LFS.

Good luck!

Pepe
Santo Domingo